who right now trails the president in every battleground state. nbc's brian mooar joins us from washington with all the details. brian, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. for both campaigns, this first debate brings both challenge and opportunity. as denver gets ready for tomorrow night's first presidential debate, so are the candidates. >> it will be a conversation with the american people that will span almost an entire month. we'll get to describe our respective views. >> reporter: romney is hoping to pick up a few votes with an endorsement from football great john elway. president obama is taking the personal approach to nail down support. >> this is barack obama. >> reporter: and like romney, the president sees this debate as a chance to talk to america. >> it's a choice between two different paths for this country. it's a choice between two fundamentally different visions for our nation. >> reporter: the president has a lead in all nine of the key battleground states including ohio, which begins early balloting today. >> romney's